Vigil on eve of Seal Beach shooting anniversary recalls victims

SEAL BEACH – One by one, nine balloons were released as nine names were read aloud.

They were the names of those shot Oct. 12, 2011, in a busy beauty salon. And Thursday night, a day before the one-year anniversary of Orange County's worst mass slaying, more than 600 people attended a candlelight vigil to remember.

"None of us will ever be the same," Sandi Fannin told the group assembled near the Seal Beach Pier. "But love and goodness has to win out over hate and evil."

Fannin was in a back room of Salon Meritage mixing hair color when a man walked in and killed her husband, Randy, the salon's owner.

Among the many family members hugging one another tightly Thursday night was Hattie Stretz of Los Alamitos. She was in the salon that day to get her hair done by her daughter, Elody. Her daughter was killed. Stretz was the only shooting victim who survived.

Nick Webb, whose aunt was killed and grandmother was shot, shared a literature assignment that required him to write only six words.

"Custody Won, Not Enough, Eight Killed."

The man accused in the slayings is the former husband of stylist Fournier. They were engaged in a heated custody battle that police said triggered the shooting. He pleaded not guilty and awaits trial in a death-penalty case.

The vigil was the latest show of love from this beach town to the families of the people who died that day.

"Seal Beach is pretty special. This shows it. The support you guys have given us is truly amazing," said Paul Caouette, whose father was the final victim, shot outside the salon.

Immediately after the shooting, people came together. There were fundraisers from Seal Beach to Central California.

And in Sunset Beach, the owner of Sunset Suites canceled her reservations and handed over the keys to her small inn.

Kelly Lawrence offered her inn free of charge to out-of-town family members attending funerals and memorials. For about a week and a half, the eight rooms and two-bedroom apartment were home to family members attending Fast's memorial.

Borders blurred in the outpouring of support.

Supermarkets from Huntington Beach to Long Beach pitched in with outdoor burger sales. A motorcycle club rode down Pacific Coast Highway to collect donations. From dinners to auctions to cut-a-thons and a golf tournament, the donations poured in to a city and Chamber of Commerce fund that distributed about $400,000 to the victims.

It was much more than the donations.

Some stepped forward to offer surviving hairstylists a place to work. One person wrote a song in remembrance. Another created an image with a blue heart encircling the words "Support in love, Seal Beach."

That soon became a symbol for the beach town of 25,000, where connections linked strangers.

Some of the victims were members of local churches, including Fast, of Seal Beach, and Kondas, a Huntington Beach resident. They both belonged to St. Anne's Catholic Church, where a Mass is planned for 9 a.m. Friday.

There were those whose families are known in local charitable circles, such as Elody, a Huntington Beach resident whose family is involved in numerous civic organizations in Los Alamitos. There are the victims, including Fournier and Fast, whose children went to or are going through local schools, connecting them to hundreds if not thousands of families in Seal Beach and neighboring communities.

Seal Beach, Los Alamitos and unincorporated Rossmoor are linked by a school district, Little League, a regional soccer league, civic groups, churches and numerous other sports groups and associations. Many have links to other communities, including coastal areas of Sunset Beach, Huntington Beach and Long Beach.

"It's been a community effort to get through each day," Natalie Webb, Elody's sister, said in a recent interview.

Relatives of the victims thanked the community for its support, and they spoke lovingly of those now gone. They will never be forgotten, they said.

Chelsea Huff, Fournier's daughter, said she wanted everyone to know that her brother, Dominic, is doing well and is very much loved. Huff has legal custody of the boy after his mother's death and father's imprisonment.

Mayor Michael Levitt said the families were not alone in their mourning. Thursday night's vigil marked an ending for many, he said. "And by bringing us all together," Levitt said, "it allows us to begin a new chapter."